Saturday, 15 March 2014

Unkle Bob has gone.Those who a few weeks earlier condemned him as a political dinosaur from the
70s that should be locked in the Tower and questioned whether he should be sunning
himself on a beach in Brazil (or wearing those shorts) with a strike looming are
now shedding crocodile tears while declaring what a great loss he is, how he
stuck to his principles and how respected he was.Now they reveal that he wasn’t the rabid Marxist
bully boy he was portrayed as but a polite if determined negotiator with strong
principles, it seems all you have to do is die and everyone loves you.

For myself I admired what he achieved at RMT but not the
methods he employed to achieve it, whoever his successor is will find him a
hard act to follow and no doubt they will suffer the same character assassination
attempts that he was subjected to.Bob was
four months younger than me, a reminder that we all have a date with the
undertaker and none of us know when it is.

Anyone else notice that Peter Hendy's 'spontaneous' remarks in the Standard on hearing of Bob's death were word-for-word identical to Mike Brown's reaction on the LU intranet. Clearly some bag-carrier messed up on getting out the preferred message...

I've never agreed with Bob Crow's politics and had the opinion that he was rather too keen on getting his name in headlines but unlike the people who rejoiced in Margaret Thatcher's death, I'd never wish anyone I disagreed with dead. It was a young age to die and condolences to his family.